Journey into the Unknown
by Neco Solus
Summary: This is a cinematic view of a D&D campaign I once had.
1. Coliseum

Thump! Thump! Thump! The coliseum shook with the ferocity of 10,000 adrenaline filled fans anticipating bloodshed. A few pebbles of dirt fell from the ceiling of the musty cavern the prisoners were being held in. Though they could hardly be called prisoners, for they had committed no real crime. The elf, who kept mostly to himself, was only passing through Vertigo's kingdom when 20 men on horseback came thundering toward him just as he was leaving. They accused him of murder, tied him up, and hauled him like an animal to a dank cell under the pounding coliseum. Apparently they were one man, or elf as it were, short of a full cast for tonight's event. In an adjacent cell sat a man. He was covered from head to foot with a thick cloak that was clearly intended to hide his face. From what? The guards did not know, nor care. The elf heard a low voice whisper, "Odin". He glanced to the dimly lit cell of the cloaked stranger and saw no movement. His ears had not deceived him, he was aware the voice's source had come from this stranger's cell. The figure turned his head toward the elf now, "I figure if I'm going to fight with you, we should at least know each others names. They call me Odin." The elf hoarsely choked out the word, "Strider" as he struggled to make out Odin's face, which now was more veiled by the darkness than by his cloak. Odin became aware of Strider's searching eyes and quickly turned away. "And you little one, what name do you go by?" Odin called across the room to another figure sitting in his own cell on the other side of the room. "The name is Patty, Patty O'Neil, and don't go thinking I'm so small I couldn't put you in your place." The voice was muffled by the overwhelming sound of the crowd overhead, but it was apparent the owner was youthful and filled with pride. Odin smiled to himself, "Don't waste your energy on me, I meant nothing by it." Standing up now, Odin moved toward the border of his cell. He began to stretch one arm toward a small moldy table set in the corner. "Now that I'm feeling a bit more rested, how about we get out of here hmm?" Strider noticed the master key set that had been left on the table began to shake, slightly at first, then more and more until it was moving toward Odin's outstretched hand.

Whack! Blinding light poured into the room as a rotund guard smashed the main door open. Only the three prisoners heard the jingle of the keys as they fell a few inches short of Odin's cell. The guard began, "If you attack each other, you'll be killed. If you attack the crowd, you'll be killed. If you taunt the king, you'll be killed..." As he ran over the rules of battle for the coliseum more guards came in and began to unlock the cells and remove the prisoners from their cages. The three strangers were marched into the preparation room where they would be equipped for the upcoming slaughter.


	2. The Stranger

The three comrades entered a short hallway with a door on the opposite end and a long wooden table set against the right wall. Upon the bloodstained table lay three swords and three small wooden shields. The fat guard snorted out a laugh as he saw the hopeless expressions on their faces appear. Patty, who was clearly the youngest of the three, gave a menacing glance back at the guard. He hit his chest with a closed fist as a sign of strength and as manly a voice as he could muster said, "I need no weapon." This only made the guard laugh harder.

"You don't want to disappoint your king do you? Ha ha, have it your way boy! I don't care how you die!"

Odin looked at the tattered weapons oddly, chose a sword and grabbed the only shield that didn't have a hole clear through it. He turned toward the door that he assumed led into the heart of the stadium, "Hopefully they will not get close enough for these to be of use to me." He silently thought to himself. Strider also grabbed a sword and shield giving little thought to which one he chose.

A much taller and more slender guard blocked the way of the door they now stood in front of. "Try not to get too much blood on the equipment, it stains awfully badly." He whined as he pulled the door open and let the blinding sun shine into the hall as though it hadn't seen light in years. The three ran into a deafening field. The ground was covered with a dry yellow dirt that was colored only with a few scattered spots of freshly spilled blood. The crowd's cheering was unbearably loud as the anticipation of the final event climaxed. In the center stood a man dressed in all black who wore two empty leather slots designed to hold daggers. One strap was attached to his right thigh and the other hung at his waist on the left. He turned to face the new arrivals and it was clear to all three that he was the cause of the blood stains that now perfumed the stadium with death.

Patty squinted to see the black figure, "One man, this can't be that hard." He turned his head toward Strider and Odin on his left, "Right?"

"He's probably thinking the same of us." Strider hoarsely retorted.

The man began taking large strides toward the unmoving group. A silver dagger could be seen clenched in his right fist as he strode nearer. Patty instinctively raised his fists as if to box and began to shift his weight back and forth from right foot to left in a rhythmic pattern. Odin twirled his sword, with little skill, so the sharp end faced down. He heavily forced it into the dirt and began to murmur in a low voice, partially to himself.

"Save it wizard." Strider exclaimed as he moved in front of Odin and took a fighting stance. "He'll fall by blade, not words or flesh." Patty gave a sharp glance, knowing the "flesh" he referred to was his own fists.


	3. Fight for your life, Part I

The man dressed in black stopped abruptly about 10ft. in front of Strider's sword. "Listen to what I say." A harsh scratchy voice came from the man. "Four men on horseback are going to come out of those doors." He pointed across to the other side of the coliseum at a pair of large doors that were slowly creaking open as he spoke. "Don't stand in a group like a bunch of idiots! At least run around to buy me some time before you die." He quickly turned to face the new threat. The three prisoners were a bit confused but had all quickly realized that this man was actually a survivor of a previous event, and was now their only ally against what was to come.

Four men on horseback wearing light armor came galloping out from behind the huge set of doors. Two carried large steel shields in one hand and longswords in the other. The other two were equipped with shortbows. Also, a massive, shirtless, man slowly came walking out behind the riders. He wore a skintight helmet that wrapped completely around his head with only holes for his eyes and mouth. He was swinging a large flail over his head and seemed to yearn for bloodshed.

"I need a bow." Strider said out loud to himself.

Odin turned toward Strider and with an unseen smile said; "Ask, and you shall receive."

Strider turned and gave Odin a startled look, suddenly realizing he had spoken out loud. Odin once again bowed his head slightly and began to murmur to himself. Meanwhile, the darkly clothed man sharply ran to the left side of the coliseum toward a horse rider carrying a sword. Patty had taken off in the opposite direction to the other rider bearing a sword. The large man with the flail remained in the back, observing the battle from a distance. The two mounted archers were riding down the center and prepared to kill both Strider and Odin in one swift attack.

"This is not good." Strider again spoke out loud to himself. Odin either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him because his chanting continued. The first volley of arrows came flying toward the two stationary prisoners. The first embedded itself deep into Strider's shield and the other was just wide of him. "Time is not with you wizard, I suggest you hurry!" Strider said impatiently. Odin fell silent, raised his head to face the bowman nearest to them and threw his right arm in front of him with unexpected speed. The end of his cloaked sleeve lit with a bright light and suddenly shot out a white streaking missile. The rider's eyes went wide with fear just before he was knocked clean off his horse from the unexpected blow. Strider's eyes too went wide and a smile crept across his face. He wasted no time in running full speed toward the fallen archer. Odin reacted just in time to block the next arrow with his shield, no longer being guarded by Strider.

The unnamed ally was running full speed toward the bladed rider on the left. It appeared to the audience that he was going to be trampled by the horse, which they did not like at all. After seeing him do so well in the previous battle they were quite disappointed in this display of apparent suicide. With no warning, he drew his dagger and threw it end over end at the rider. To the amazement of the crowd, the dagger stuck clean into the rider's throat! The crowd jumped to their feet with excitement and once again filled the coliseum with loud shouts and cheers. The rider limply fell off his horse and the stranger coolly pulled his dagger from the man's throat. Wiping the blood off on the dead man's shirt. He took a few bows to the crowd, clearly loving the attention, which was much against his normal nature.

Patty was on the opposite end of the field preparing to face his rider. He, however, was waiting for the rider to come to him instead of running head on as the stranger had. The swordsman was coming along side Patty to make a swing with his blade. Patty dropped just under the reach of the blade and swung his leg out as the horse passed by. He kicked the side of the horse's back right leg just as he was passing by. It took the horse by surprise and threw him off balance. His leg buckled and twisted under his own weight. The horse tripped a moment and was unable to regain its balance before running headlong into the tall wooden barriers protecting the crowd. The horse was knocked unconscious by the impact and tossed the bewildered rider onto the yellow field. Patty ran over to finish the man off, but not before he was able to get to his feet and hold Patty at bay with his longsword. The crowd on this side of the field fell silent as they waited in anticipation for more bloodshed. The swordsman waited a few seconds to regain his bearings, then made a stab at Patty who jumped back just in time to avoid the tip of the blade. With haste the man took a large swing at Patty's side, but Patty dropped underneath the reach of the sword and kicked out the man's leg. He fell forward and curled the sword underneath himself falling squarely on the blade. A clean cut was put straight through the man's chest. After a few gasps for air, the body went limp. The crowd exploded with loud cheers and hollers to show they were pleased with the execution.

The last mounted rider circled to come around for another pass at Odin who appeared quite helpless standing alone and backed up nearly to the door he had entered from. Strider had reached the fallen bowman by now and quickly laid waste to him with his shortsword. He picked up the man's bow and turned in time to see the mounted archer preparing an arrow intended for Odin. Strider quickly fired a shot at the man and hit him in the side just before he himself released an arrow. The man winced in pain and let his arrow fly way off target, nearly killing a small boy in the crowd. The rider turned toward Strider now, who was reaching for one of the many scattered arrows on the ground. With the arrow still in his side he drew back his bow and again shot way off target as Odin had fired another of his lighted missiles, this time into the man's back. He fell from the horse and landed so the arrow wedged itself further into his side, finishing him off. The scattered group now turned and looked at the large ox of a man who had been watching the whole time. The beast grinned beneath his helmet as he began to walk toward the center of the field.


	4. Fight for your life, Part II

The muscular man walked into the center of the field and could be seen much more clearly now. His skin had a greenish tint to it. It seemed even his muscles had muscles. What, at a distance, appeared to be a large gut, could now be distinguished as an extremely muscular stomach that literally bulged with strength. The giant figure was anything but graceful, he walked with a sort of swagger as would be expected from an orc.

He had placed himself in the middle of the coliseum and began to slowly swing his heavy flail around his head as if to challenge the 4 tyrants that now surrounded him. Odin had picked up his sword again, though he wasn't sure how useful it would actually be. Strider still carried the bow and had a few arrows in hand. Patty remained unarmed and the dark stranger was poised as though he was about to wrestle, holding the bloodied dagger in his right hand.

Without a word, Strider, the elf, readied his bow, took aim, and fired an arrow. A dull thud could be heard as the arrow stuck loosely into the man's abdomen. An animal like growl came from the man as he turned angrily toward Strider. The crowd went silent as they watched on. The man stopped spinning the flail over his head and began to run wildly at the elf. Strider readied another arrow as fast as he could and fired again with such haste that he missed. A haunting buzz sound was heard as the arrow soared over the man's shoulder and broke on the solid ground. Strider went slightly airborne as the beast threw all his weight into his shoulder and rammed into Strider's front side at full speed. Thrown nearly 15ft backward, Strider was knocked unconscious and lay silent now on the already bloodied ground. The green skinned man hit his massive chest with both fists and raised his arms in the air while giving out a deep-throated holler for the crowd's approval. He spun around while still praising himself and was taken by surprise when Patty suddenly appeared with his feet coming straight at the man's chest. Patty had jumped up and thrown both feet into the beast's chest in a drop kick maneuver. It pushed the creature back a few steps but seemed to have little effect in hurting him. However, Patty fell to the ground and was now at the mercy of the heavy flail that was about to come down on him. A bright flash seemed to generate from the creature's eyes just as the flail was coming down. The flail swung wide and the creature reached for its eyes as though it had been blinded.

"I don't know how many more times I can do that so take advantage of it now!" Odin hollered from a few feet away.

It seemed the crowd had forgotten about the dark man, since they were all surprised to suddenly see him reappear out of nowhere and stab the creature in the back with the silvered dagger. A bear-like growl came from the man as he regained his sight. Since Patty was the only one he could see, he assumed Patty was also the source of the sharp pain he had just received in his back. Bringing the flail around again he brought all of its mass down for a powerful attack on Patty. Quickly, swinging his legs over his head, Patty rolled backwards, flipping over completely and landing loosely on his hands and feet, just missing the flail's bite. Becoming aware of the dagger still wedged in his back, the creature turned to see the dark man standing behind him.

"Crap! My dagger!" The man yelled seeing that it was still lodged in the creature's back.

The hulking creature let out another growl as he brought his bare fist up to smash over the unarmed man's skull. A dog like howl rang through the air as Odin pulled the dagger out with an invisible hand, still several feet from the creature. The green man turned toward Odin only to have his shin kicked out by Patty who had regained his courage. The dark man quickly picked the dagger up, jumped on top of the large man's back and stabbed deep into the man's spine. An echoing "Snap!" was heard and a very short high-pitched scream came from the green creature. Instantly, he fell silent and stopped moving. Waiting a moment to make sure the creature was actually dead, they all fell silent. He **was** dead, and the crowd joyfully applauded.


	5. The Banquet

Just as Strider began to wake up to a pounding headache and a shallow stream of blood coming from his nose, he was able to make out a blurred mass of guards surrounding him and the others. Still in a daze, Strider would have attacked if it were not for the large amount of spears now pointed at the four strangers. The crowd was silent with their eyes fixed on the king who now stood at the weathered white marble railing of his royal viewing box. It was quite unusual for anyone to survive the arena's events. It was also considered a personal insult to the king if there was a survivor, much less four. The sun glistened off king Vertigo's golden trimmed robe as everyone silently waited for his decision.

Signaling with a thumb down, a huge relief from both the crowd and the prisoners was felt; this indicated the prisoner's lives would be spared. The prisoners were presented to a healer who helped bandage and mend any wounds they had sustained. Next, they were given all their previous equipment along with a small note. They had all been invited to attend an exclusive meeting to be held at the castle. Although none wanted to stay, they were given very little choice in the matter.

The four men were all filtered into a massive dining hall. In front of them lay a feast the size of which they had never seen before. There were at least three dozen others, mostly male, already sitting at the elegantly decorated table. There was no sign of the king until after the dinner was long over and the company had begun to grow restless. King Vertigo came into the room with a very somber business face. "I come before you all today with a great task that I can not complete alone." Vertigo began in a stern leading voice. "Because of security precautions concerning this task, I can not tell you what it is I ask of you until you have already accepted the task. I _can_ tell you this however; those who accept will receive from me no gold, no treasure, and no riches of any kind. Your only reward will be world recognition as a hero and a savior. When all is said and done, those who accept and survive will be hailed as gods. We will all owe a great dept to you for what you will have done. The odds will be very much against you, and it is very likely that death will feast more than once on the willing participants. This is all I can say for now, those who do not wish to take on such a large burden, leave now." The king abruptly ended his speech and stood in silence as the large majority of the crowd gathered their belongings and left without another word.

It was clear by the expression on Vertigo's face that he was very disappointed by how few had stayed. He regained his composure and began to speak again, now in a quiet and remorseful tone. "The world as we know it, is in danger. A great evil is stirring and will soon unleash itself upon all that we hold near and dear to our hearts. You seven will travel to the most northern edge of this continent and meet a hired mercenary who goes by the name Daka. There, he will take you to the nearest town and you will begin your journey. The quest you have set before you is to ally every kingdom, city, and village to join our cause. Bloodshed and envy have spread apart the northern part of this continent and we must have everyone allied if we are to stand any chance against the oncoming evil. We are still uncertain of what exactly this evil is, but we know that very soon the time of war will be upon us. It has been foretold that this will be the final war between good and evil. The outcome is uncertain, but we know the end is near for someone. Your rides should be here shortly. Please, converse for a short while. You will soon be fighting side by side with the strangers around you, take a moment to get to know one another." The king turned and walked out the door, leaving the seven strangers to themselves.

The room was silent for a moment while everyone absorbed what had just been said. Patty stood up from his chair. He was wearing dirty peasants clothes and looked nothing like the heroes that had just been described. "My name is Patty. Why don't we just go around in a circle and introduce ourselves?" He offered. Odin, who sat at his right, raised his hand slightly, "Call me Odin" he stated dryly. Odin was fully cloaked, just as he had been at the Arena. Next, a young man clad in a set of shining full plate mail stood. In a full, proud voice the man said, "I am Sir Kuvo of the king's personal guard." A short laugh came from the woman sitting at Kuvo's side. She was dressed in elegant elvish cloth and had a katana strapped to her side. The half-elf female stood, looking at Kuvo with apologetic eyes. "None of these people care that you're one of the king's guards Koov." The half-elf said while slightly shaking her head side to side. Kuvo gave a small shrug and surrendered, sitting down. The half-elf introduced herself, giving her elvish name. A few of them unsuccessfully choked the name out, disgracing the elvish language in Strider's eyes. "Your name starts with a K, how about we just call you Kay?" Strider offered. The half-elf woman was not happy with the name change, but conformed to the simple-minded group with little argument. Kay sat down and waited for the introductions to continue. Next in line was the man from the arena who wore black leather. It appeared he was still wearing his leather attire, but it was difficult to see under his dark rogue-like cloak. He reluctantly stood and in a rough voice hurried the words; "My name is Sturym." He quickly took his seat and said nothing more. A stout dwarf stood now. He was well armored and heavily equipped. Four throwing axes were attached at his waist and upper thighs. Two massive dwarven waraxes hung on his backside. "Glo'in is my name." The hulking dwarf sat back into his wooden chair. The last to be introduced was Strider. He was dressed in weather beaten studded leather armor. A longbow rested next to him, and a longsword hung at his side. Strider stood slightly taller than the rest, which was not unusual since he was an elf. "It's nice to meet you all, my true name is Valorien; though some call me Strider."

King Vertigo reentered just as Valorien sat. Your rides are here. It's time to go. The group was herded onto a spacious balcony that glistened from the moon's light. The entire town could be seen dimly lit below. A large forest rested to the north. Beyond the forest, mountains towered above, veiling the northern part of the continent. That was where the new group's journey would begin.


	6. Friendship

Everyone had gathered on the marble balcony, but none saw means of travel that would bring them to the northern edge of the continent.

"Aye, the view is fine, but how do you plan on getting us past those mountains? I see no catapult! Ha ha!" Gloin, the dwarf, laughed to himself.

King Vertigo pointed to a stairway that appeared to lead to the roof of the castle. The group filed up the stairs and onto a large flat surface that was occupied by 3 griffins. The group gawked in astonishment. King Vertigo looked pleased for the first time. He quickly suppressed his smile and he looked down at the ground as he spoke. "You can put no cost on a life, but I assure you these creatures were difficult to come by. They will fly you to your destination and then head back to the floating island east of the river Scone. That is their home, and they have offered us a one way ride. We owe much to these creatures as so much depends on their flight." Vertigo looked up at the majestic beasts that stood before him. Then, he turned his gaze into the night's sky, full of bright stars shining their lights onto the world like rays of hope through all the darkness. He turned to Kuvo, "Take care young friend." He shifted to address everyone else. "You know your task. Do your best. We're counting on you!" He turned; heading back down the stairs from which they had just came.

"I'll ride with Koov!" the half-elf Kay quickly announced. Valorien looked at Gloin; "I'm not riding with that dwarf." Gloin gave a stony squint to Valorien; "Damn right you're not!" Kuvo and Kay began to head for a griffin to ride. Valorien went to one of the two barebacked griffins and began to climb on. Odin started after Valorien while Gloin attempted to mount the final griffin. Sturym took a sniff of the air, hesitated, and walked toward Valorien and Odin's ride. Patty walked over and helped Gloin finish his ascent onto the griffin's back. "Oy see why you're called Gloin, because you're just glo-wing with excitement!" Patty tried to joke with the dwarf, but it didn't seem to work.

"Why did I have to drink the last of my ale? I knew I'd regret it, and sure enough, here I am…" Gloin trailed off. Patty began again, "Dwarven ale huh? Good stuff. Though it can hardly be _called_ ale compared to what Oy drink!"

"A Skinny child such as yourself couldn't hold a pint and keep his mind!"

"You'd be surprised."

"Are you implying you could out drink a dwarf at his own game?"

"Oy didn't _say_ it…."

"You can't be serious! I've never been so insulted in my life!"

The group was well on their way, and already making friendships.


End file.
